Project Description
Construction has started on an £8m inpatient eating disorders unit at St Ann’s Hospital in Sandbanks, designed by Medical Architecture for Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust. Sited in a protected wooded glade, the building has been carefully crafted to preserve the quality of its natural setting and to create a uniquely private and therapeutic environment for inpatients.
The new building will increase the Trust’s capacity for specialist eating disorders care to meet demand in the local area, ensuring patients can receive their treatment closer to home — a factor that aids their recovery.
Responding thoughtfully to a sensitive site
The site selected for the new building is in the grounds of the Grade 2* Listed, St Ann’s Hospital on the Dorset coast. The size and positioning of the building has been carefully crafted to have a low impact on the mature coastal trees that occupy the site and to respect the character of the surrounding area. The larger two-storey volume of the building is set back from the site boundary and adjoining road, reducing in scale to single storey as it approaches the street frontage.
Creating a therapeutic environment for recovery
The bedroom accommodation and the patient day spaces are located together on the ground floor, providing 8 inpatient beds and 2 high dependency beds. The transparent day spaces have views out to an accessible landscaped garden and the surrounding woodland, maximising the therapeutic benefit. This ward plan, with a central staff base, aids observation and allows efficient staffing levels to be maintained. Staff and therapy rooms occupy the first floor. A large activity space provides spectacular views out across the tree canopy.
Externally, the design uses traditional materials found on the hospital site, such as brick and clay roof tiles, but details them in a contemporary manner, providing a modern and attractive setting for the treatment and care of vulnerable patients. Internally, organic materials and neutral colours complement the ever-present views to nature. Large areas of glazing provide natural light to reinforce circadian rhythms and reduce the requirement for internal lighting.
Minimising impact above and below ground
The building has been designed to carefully preserve the woodland setting with an irrigated root-protecting foundation design that lifts the building above the roots and retains the large mature Category A trees. These have extensive canopies, providing good shade and shelter from extreme future climate effects. The external landscaping around the building is permeable and designed to retain as much rainwater on the site as possible. This is to irrigate the existing and newly planted trees and shrubs, whilst mitigating any local flood risk at times of extremely high rainfall.